UN: Syrian refugees will officially reach more than third the population of Lebanon by December 2014

A young Syrian refugee and her "doll". - Photo: United Nations News Service

Syrian refugees in Lebanon will be more than one third of the population of Lebanon in late 2014, according to a UN report that was issued on Thursday in Beirut, warning against a increasing "burden" on the economy.

According to the UN report about Lebanon released on Thursday in Beirut, Lebanon will be hosting in December 1.500.000 refugees, which is a population of four million people.

According to the report, 53% of these refugees are children.

"We are no longer able to bear the burden all alone (...). We exceeded the limits," said the Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs, Rachid Derbas, in the presence of ambassadors and the representative of the UNHCR, Ninette Kelley.

The small neighboring country to Syria is currently the country with the highest number of Syrian refugees: 1.1 million, i.e. hosting 38% of refugees.

According to the UN, 1.6 billion dollars of funds are needed for Lebanon in 2014, however only 23% have been harvested for the moment.

"The current level of funding (...) does not enable us to achieve the goal of enrolling more than 172.000 children next year in schools or launch a necessary vaccination campaign for all children under 5 years," Kelley said.

Similarly, the needed assistance to allow 800.000 refugees to face next year's winter season and to provide potable water to 30.000 people, including Lebanese, cannot be provided due to a lack of funding.